Tag: Billy Brandt

In Harmony – Metro Detroit’s Voxanna Forms During Pandemic and Releases Compelling Self-Titled Debut Album

voxanna-1
Voxanna’s Billy Brandt, Elaine Schoendorf, Raquel Salaysay and Kerry Gluckman share rich harmonies and a timeless acoustic folk-rock sound on their self-titled debut album. Photo courtesy of Voxanna

When the pandemic first hit, Billy Brandt, Elaine Schoendorf, Kerry Gluckman and Raquel Salaysay unexpectedly found a silver lining during a dark time.

The two couples and musical collaborators experienced a burst of creativity and formed Voxanna, a new acoustic folk-rock band from Metro Detroit.

“It’s something amazingly positive to do,” said Brandt, one of the band’s vocalists and a guitarist, banjoist and autoharpist.

“It started with Kerry, Raquel and me—though I had met Elaine right before the pandemic. We trusted each other, and for some reason, we had an instinctual feeling that we’d be OK if we gathered to play music, so we did.”

At the outset, Brandt gathered with Gluckman (percussion) and Salaysay (bass, vocals) to jam outside the couple’s house and started recording their performances. 

“We videotaped everything, so everything was a performance … and that worked very well in our favor. People really enjoyed seeing us from their lockdown homes or whatever apartment they were living in,” Brandt said.

“This live music seemed to get 100, 300, 500 and 1,000 likes every time we posted, so we built a small online community that’s very different from an in-person community. We had good responses, and it kept us going.”

That momentum prompted Brandt to bring Schoendorf (tenor guitar, vocals) into the fold after the two had started singing and harmonizing together in 2019.

“We had been working our thing concurrently with Kerry, Raquel and I working out this trio—this rhythm section thing,” Brandt said. “But we were missing one thing and that was three-part harmonies, so we eventually put it all together.”

Continue reading “In Harmony – Metro Detroit’s Voxanna Forms During Pandemic and Releases Compelling Self-Titled Debut Album” →

Then and Now – Metro Detroit’s Ash Can Van Gogh Looks Backward and Forward on the Band’s Evolution

Ash Can Van Gogh
Ash Can Van Gogh’s Billy Brandt, JC Whitelaw and Mary McGuire pause between performances. Photo – Ash Can Van Gogh’s Facebook page

Back in 1986, Billy Brandt and JC Whitelaw placed an ad in the Metro Times looking for a female vocalist and instrumentalist.

The two Metro Detroit singer-songwriters envisioned forming a folk-rock band—now known as Ash Can Van Gogh—that specialized in three-part harmonies.

It wasn’t long until Mary McGuire saw the ad and called Brandt from a payphone at the Inn Season Café in Royal Oak. The Lansing singer-songwriter was working at the vegetarian-vegan restaurant at the time.

“I’m standing there holding the Metro Times, and I put a dime in the phone. Billy answers the phone, and I’m like, ‘Hey, I’m calling about your ad in the Metro Times, and my name is Mary,’ and he’s like, ‘What’s your sign?’” McGuire said.

“That was the first thing he said to me, and I was like, ‘Scorpio,’ and he’s like, ‘Oh, that’s cool; I’m a Capricorn.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, we’ll get along. I have a moon in Capricorn,’ so then we chatted about our influences and found we were big fans of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.”

That first conversation quickly led to Brandt and Whitelaw seeing McGuire perform at Sir Charles Pub in Royal Oak and then singing with her at her house later that night.

Continue reading “Then and Now – Metro Detroit’s Ash Can Van Gogh Looks Backward and Forward on the Band’s Evolution” →

Center Lane – J.C. & the Disciples Steer Middle Course on ‘It’s Happening Here’ Single

These days, J.C. Whitelaw prefers to steer a middle course.

The Detroit classic rock singer-songwriter and guitarist cruises in the center lane as passersby impatiently zoom ahead to the left and right on his latest politically charged single, “It’s Happening Here,” with the Disciples.

For Whitelaw, the lanes on either side of him become congested as drivers yell back and forth across a growing divided national highway.

“With all the Left and Right going at each other over the past four years, it would be hard not to be affected by it. I was shocked to see the level of hate that was conjured by both parties and friends alike and the disrespect for each other over a difference in opinion and ideas. I really believe the loss of civility in these times is unfortunately something that isn’t going away anytime soon,” he said.

Whitelaw emphatically channels those lingering frustrations throughout “It’s Happening Here” as raw, crunchy electric guitars, pulsating drums, crashing cymbals, thumping bass and spirited sax erupt in a fiery Rolling Stones-esque intensity.

In tandem, he passionately sings, “As horror becomes our laughter/Now we’re left in tatters/Scattered on the deafest ears/Happens here!/So now we walk in silence/While hate becomes our triumph/Lost all sense of sanity/Had to be/You and me/We can see/It’s happening here!/It’s happening here!”

“For me, it’s a snapshot of what’s going on right now – mentally, spiritually and socially. I was watching some televised opinion show that most would call news these days, and this melody came to me. I grabbed my guitar and laid it down. I had a few lyrics fly out, and then I left it alone,” Whitelaw said.

“A few days later, one of my old bandmates, Jon Ross, messaged me some lyrics he had been working on and shared the same sentiment that I was feeling. I basically cherry-picked some of his lines and mixed them with mine, and it really took shape over a week or so.”

Along with the single, Whitelaw released new video for “It’s Happening Here,” which features the Disciples’ Jimmy Sparks (drums), James Megerian (bass) and David Reinstein (sax) performing at Jimmy’s warehouse on Aug. 22. Detroit folk rock singer-songwriter Billy Brandt and vocalist Kristin von Bernthal also contribute to the track.

“The Disciples got together for a video/audio socially distanced recording session at Jimmy Sparks’ warehouse and recorded a set for the Beats Go On program. We donated all proceeds to the cause. We were pretty excited as we hadn’t played together since February, and this gave us the opportunity to work on some new material for the new record we’re planning on recording,” said Whitelaw, who worked with The Mission Recording Studio’s Sean Morse and Stellar Videography’s Tracy Viers on the track and video.

“The recording and video is from the second pass of the track after showing the band the song. It’s mostly a live take of the band except I layered in a lead guitar track and Kristin von Bernthal’s vocal tracks at Sean Morse’s Mission Studio. Sean also helped multi-track record the entire session at Jimmy’s warehouse.”

Continue reading “Center Lane – J.C. & the Disciples Steer Middle Course on ‘It’s Happening Here’ Single” →

Mind Meld – Billy Brandt, Sarana VerLin Fuse Musical Intuition Thursday at 20 Front Street

Billy Brandt and Sarana VerLin will perform Thursday night at 20 Front Street in Lake Orion.

Billy Brandt and Sarana VerLin know how to read musical minds.

The folk rock duo will demonstrate their sonic superpowers live Thursday night before an intimate crowd at Lake Orion’s 20 Front Street. It will be their first time captivating fans there together.

“Billy and I have a ‘Vulcan mind meld’ on stage where we can follow each other effortlessly and know what direction to go in when we go off-piste and improvise instrumentally,” said VerLin, a U.K.-based singer-songwriter, violinist and multi-instrumentalist. “When we play and write together, we rub against and wear away each other’s rough edges to get a sound blend that neither of us gets on our own.”

The enchanting pair will share timeless tales from their latest release, “Are You Listening?” – a magical 10-track odyssey that includes Shakespearean characters, ghosts, emperors, dystopian worlds and whales. Magical acoustic guitars, violins and mandolins whisk listeners away to a stunning sonic world beautifully constructed in their minds.

“‘Are You Listening?’ took about two years to complete. When I was here in Detroit a few years ago, I said we should go in the studio to record. We had a few songs that had not been recorded yet so we started with those,” said VerLin, who originally hails from Trenton.

“Billy had written a song called ‘Sailing Away,’ and coincidentally and separately, I had written a song called ‘Sailing Away.’ A completely different feel but in a similar key, so we combined them into a two-part song.”

Released in 2018 via Drum Dancer Records, “Are You Listening?” also unearths another folk rock treasure, “I Wish I Knew,” which includes a splendid picking arrangement of a melody Brandt wrote and envisioned as part of a monotone vocal accompaniment.

Back in July 2011, VerLin wrote the lyrics during a trip to Chamberlain’s Ole Forest Inn in Curtis, but couldn’t pair it will the right melody. Six years later, Brandt’s guitar melody formed the perfect marriage for the song.

Continue reading “Mind Meld – Billy Brandt, Sarana VerLin Fuse Musical Intuition Thursday at 20 Front Street” →